Fincantieri to Build Cruise Ship Blocks in Australia from 2018

Italian ship builder and ship designer Fincantieri, together with its selected subcontractor, will construct cruise ship blocks in Australia from 2018 to commence training the Australian shipbuilding workforce in Fincantieri tools and methods.

For the purpose, the Italian giant hired the flat product steel producer BlueScope Steel, which now join Fincantieri’s global base of 80,000 subcontractors around the world, to supply steel for use in cruise ships and future test blocks of cruise ships constructed in Australia.

“This order will ensure that cruise ships blocks built in Australia as part of our start-up activities will train an Australian shipbuilding workforce and use Australian steel,” Dario Deste, Chairman of Fincantieri Australia, said.

The training activities lead into the start of production of the Future Frigate from 2020, as the company aims to bring its own work “to start up operations locally and create new markets for Australian industry.”

The cruise ship blocks will be constructed by both Fincantieri’s own shipbuilding workforce and potential subcontractors to the Future Frigate Project, who will be invited to submit quotes in coming months to construct selected blocks.

Fincantieri has also selected Hoffmann Engineering to manufacture a bow thruster for a Landing Platform Dock for a Middle Eastern Navy in Australia. Furthermore, the parties have entered a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly cooperate in the development of Fincantieri’s AUD 250 million global market (over 5 years) for the manufacture of marine systems and components.

In association with its tendered proposal to the Australian Government for Project Sea 5000 Future Frigate, upon reaching the appropriate business content, Fincantieri said it will list its Australian business unit on the Australian stock exchange (ASX).

Fincantieri presently lists two businesses within the group on public stock exchanges, being Fincantieri on the Italian exchange and Vard on the Singaporean Exchange.

This announcement follows previous confirmation by the company that an Australian shipbuilding workforce will be used to build all the Future Frigates in Adelaide, Australia. An office of Fincantieri Australia will open in Adelaide on October 10, 2017.